1. Field of the Invention
In recent years, two fundamental economic revelations have occurred. We have seen the end of cheap labor as a substitution for material costs; and just now, we are witnessing the demise of cheap energy as the primary means of overcoming a lack of efficiency in many fields. Thus, in an effort to simultaneously reduce building energy requirements and construction labor cost, this invention relates to an improved construction material of modular design which may be used by large contractors or the common man alike to simultaneously produce a highly insulated, prefurred, structurally sound masonry building wall without heavy equipment or specialized hardware and thereby realize a substantial utility operating cost, time and labor savings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art in this field with respect to insulating a masonry building block or a wall made thereof consists primarily of individual insulated inserts to bulk fill materials to be positioned within the voids or hollow cores of each block. Generally, this is done at an additional labor cost as each course of block is laid up. The prior art thereby allows a considerable breach of the thermal barrier since each block generally will have at least three masonry bridges which join the interior and exterior facing surfaces. A wall insulated in this manner will have a low thermal efficiency as energy may readily pass through the wall between the insulated cores via the aforementioned masonry bridges. Within the scope of the prior art it therefore becomes necessary, if one is to achieve the maximum thermal efficiency, to apply insulating material to the surface of the finished wall as a completely separate time, labor and material consuming operation. Very often, in an effort to minimize the additional cost of applying a full coverage insulation system the material will be attached by means of adhesives which may deteriorate and fail with age or repeated cycles of temperature and humidity.
In the prior art with respect to the furring of a masonry wall, that is the attachment, usually of wooden strips or the like to provide a suitable base for the installation of wall finishes, fixtures or insulation by some means other than adhesives to insure the permanents of the work, this requiring either that a number of holes first be drilled into the masonry structure at approximately sixteen inch centers for the insertion of specialized hardware, such as expansion or toggle bolts and the like or the use of powder actuated fastening systems, which can be damaging to hollow core masonry walls and require highly specialized guns to fire the hardened anchors through the furring members and into the mortar joints. Moreover, the attachment of furring strips to a masonry wall in the prior art is also a costly process both in labor and materials.
In view of the preceding it then becomes obvious that improvements can be made in the prior art.